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Thursday, July 10, 2014

Damn, I Almost Forgot to Taper

This is supposed to be the time to rest and focus on my English Channel attempt. But, I also desperately need as much time in water as possible to help acclimate to the cold. Since Saturday, I've been in the water every day and have had a couple double dip days. So when I woke up this morning to grey skies and howling wind, I took it as a sign to veg out. I missed a fun group swim with Sam Jones and company, but hope there will be another day for a buddy swim in the harbor.

I had a leisurely, and huge, breakfast of a cheese and mushroom omelette and a couple of cups of coffee. I'm diggin' the French press. Paul enjoyed his usual English breakfast: over easy eggs, toast and black pudding. Eh. Some foreign delicacies are better than others.After loafing around all morning, we decided to walk into town for lunch. I put on real clothes (jeans and a blouse) and even put on make-up and jewelry. Who knew there was a chick under that swim cap and oversized swim parka?Downtown Dover is delightful. We walked past cathedrals that are centuries old and cobblestone roads that are probably over ancient tunnels or burial grounds. The history is everywhere. And the people are so friendly. The only weird thing is that there's no swimming shop. Seriously. There's a big sports store with Nike shoes, Adidas jackets and every sports accessory you can imagine, but not a single suit, swimcap or pair of goggles. Granted, it's not like there are thousands of swimmers here, but there are a few. I'm going to open a swim shop/coffee house. Buy one of those cute little castles on the hillside and settle down.We somehow found ourselves in the aisles of Morrison's again. I am my father's daughter. Bought some salad dressing, clothes pegs (or bloomer pins) and there might have been a 4-pack of Guinness in there, too. I don't recall.Fish and chips were calling and we answered. We ducked into The Park Pub where a cute little puppy was running the place. Well, running around the place, anyway. So cute! I'm sure he would have liked a bite of our chips, but we didn't want to encourage bad habits.The most exercise I had today was walking up that hill back to our rental flat. The rest of the afternoon, I lounged on the couch like a good tapering girl and read or checked my phone for messages. It's kind of hard to just sit around. I'll be glad to get back in the water tomorrow.